To clean your gun or not to clean your gun-thats my question

[brutis.270]

Cleaning the rifle can mean different things I believe the action and chamber should be cleaned after every hunt or trip to the range especially gas guns. I don't want carbon ground into the precision fit parts as they move. the barrel is another story I only run a nylon brush through with a little bit of bore solvent to get the carbon. Let the copper get to a happy place .only deep clean when accuracy fades

 

[javman]

Each and every rifle is different. If I notice when accuracy starts to wain, it's time to clean it. As an example my 6.5 GR bolt shoots great with a dirty barrel but my AR needs a cleaning a lot more often.

 

[Marc Gauthier]

In competition, many cartridges, and the weapon remains accurate without cleaning. But if the weapon is tidied up without cleaning the humudity trapped in imperfections does its job. I have a quick cleaning rope, and I clean it before storing the weapon.

 

[bigngreen]

Since owning a high quality bore scope I also now use only bronze brushes, go one direction with them, the plastic ones are next to worthless and are just for happy thoughts!!!

 

[cdan]

Unlike most I zero to have the first shot dead on at the range I anticipate.
Give me the first shot and you can have the rest.

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

When younger I was always told one should clean their rifle. When I was in the Marines there was no question about it what-so-ever. Not so long ago I read an article by a prominent rifle shooting competitor that explained why it's important to keep one's rifle barrel cleaned on a reguler basis. But most recently I'm hearing just the opposite. Some serious shooters say they don't clean their barrel for 600 rounds or more unless of course they get water or dirt ect in the barrel. How often do you clean your barrels? Thanks in advance.

I always clean the carbon after shooting but I do not clean the copper out till I have a drop in acuracy right around 200-300 rounds

 

[Toddm]

Empirically is the only way to know, if you are cleaning based on anything other than actually testing each rifle for what it wants in it's cleaning you are doing it "wrong". You either want to clean for accuracy or consistent velocity depending on your use. This will vary by caliber, barrel, load, etc. Practical guns get cleaned different than benchrest guns, get cleaned different than hunting guns etc. Cleaning a gun is different than changing your oil, because you can wear/damage a barrel cleaning it wrong/too often. It's just like using the right cleaning methods/tools will minimise barrel wear from cleaning, and using the wrong ones can damage a barrel in a single cleaning session. IMO most guys spend too much effort cleaning copper out, and not enough on carbon and most shooters would be much better off just doing chamber/throat/carbon cleaning after range sessions, and only doing copper cleaning at much less frequent intervals.

A borescope is cute, but be prepared to be horrified at what you see, I've seen factory barrels look so bad the average person would not want to shoot them that shot great. I can show pictures from a borescope in a custom S&W 41 barrel that look so bad the owner returned it. That barrel was then tested and yielded 10 shot sub 0.5" groups at 50 yards with eley match. A well known aftermarket AR barrel maker's new pitted barrel that shot lights out. To me they are really only useful for watching how a barrel carbon/copper fowls to determine cleaning intervals/methods, and monitoring throat/chamber/crown erosion.

I've seen more damage done to guns that were over cleaned, and cleaned incorrectly than I ever have from under cleaned. I've seen .308 custom barrels on loaner guns that were not cleaned for thousands of rounds, and were so bad the first few inches of rifling was shot out, but the barrel still shot sub 1MOA, and I've seen factory barrels so bad that after 20 rounds it looked like the barrel was made from copper, and groups went from 1" to 3". Which is why you get 100 different answers from 100 different shooters that all seem to work for them.

 

[Joshuaham]

I think most stray first shots are the shooter is fowled not the barrel. I was made to record my first shot in a book. After many months it was me. Cheek weld was my issue. I didn't find a lot of variation in cold barrel vs warm. I used to oilomy barrel s before storage or if moving to a new project and not going to use the gun for the near term. did an experiment with my 270 and found if I oiled the barrel the first two rounds shoot right an inch or so. You can see the debris on the crown also

 

[Longhunter1750]

I have a bit of gun care OCD, even if I only fire one shot it gets a patch down the barrel and the face of the bolt gets wiped clean.

 

[436]

When younger I was always told one should clean their rifle. When I was in the Marines there was no question about it what-so-ever. Not so long ago I read an article by a prominent rifle shooting competitor that explained why it's important to keep one's rifle barrel cleaned on a reguler basis. But most recently I'm hearing just the opposite. Some serious shooters say they don't clean their barrel for 600 rounds or more unless of course they get water or dirt ect in the barrel. How often do you clean your barrels? Thanks in advance.

Clean.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

I clean my rifle often and my barrel seldom.

 

[crkckr]

You will never get a consensus on this subject! If anything, you will come away more confused about the subject than ever! The truth is, you need to test your rifle, preferably in the same conditions you will be hunting in (cold & snow, etc) and let your rifle tell you what to do. I've got some that won't shoot for beans until there are 2 or 3 foulers down the pipe (sometimes more) and a couple that don't seem to care one way or another. That first shot early in the morning is the most important and the only way to find out is to test your rifle. If your first shot from a cold, clean barrel is way out of the group, as I suspect most are, then you'll need to foul the barrel before taking it out hunting or shooting for score. The majority of my rifles will do ok with a fouled barrel and an oil dampened (not 'wet') patch down the barrel after the foulers are fired.

I suspect that generally speaking most rifles don't shoot the very first shot out of a cold, perfectly clean and rust protected barrel very consistently but the only way to know for certain is to get out and test for yourself and find out what your rifle likes... or will tolerate, especially when it comes to rust protection.

As to how often it needs to be cleaned, once again, let the rifle tell you what it likes. No one can give you exact numbers because each rifle is unique in what it will tolerates. Obviously it needs to be cleaned well and rust protected before being put away for any extended time but beyond that... you simply cannot guess. You must test to find out!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[FL_SquirrelHunter]

I clean after every range session except the final sight check before hunting. When just practicing or even when tuning a load, I like to wipe it quickly inside and out with dry cloth before the range and clean it well with Ballistol afterwards. Don't see a need to store dirty equipment. But ... on the last session before a hunt, I group three rounds (slowly, cooled barrel each shot) from the batch I intend to hunt, then leave inside barrel 'seasoned' for the hunt and only wipe the outside. Why? well, i guess because it works. Obviously, cleaned thoroughly after the hunt (exposure) unless going again soon.

 

[Matt Bastian]

My experience: a spotlessly clean barrel's first shot will not be consistently the same as a 'dirty 3rd through 30th shot'. This is magnified with a muzzleloader as the first shot inevitably resembles a 'flier'.

Why does one clean their firearm is the question that demands the answer:

1. To preserve the firearm so your grandson will marvel at its condition or get a good price for it from a pawnshop;
2. To keep its mechanical function operating and reliable in all climatic conditions;
3. To ensure the lands and grooves are in shooting form;
4. To teach the kids how to master the fit, function, and safe operation/handling of all weapons types.

I don't believe one can 'over clean' their bang sticks; however, I NEVER hunt with a weapon with a spotlessly clean barrel, as I always, always send one or two down the tube followed by a dry bore snake before a hunt. Realistically, poa and poi for hunting conditions should always be defined premised upon the average grouping of shots 3-10....IMHO.